Vehicle door latch



Nov. 26, 1940. H. w. RIGHTMYER VEHICLE DOOR LATCH Filed Feb. 23, 1938 Gum/MA;

Patented Nov. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES VEHICLEv DOOR LATCH Holden W. Rnightmyer, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to The American Swiss Company, Toledo, Ohio,

a corporation of Ohio Application February 23, 1938, Serial No. 191,989

1 Claim.

This invention relates to door latches but more particularly to latches for the doors of automobiles or similar vehicles and an object is to produce a new and improved door latch in which the handle parts are normally held in a predetermined position.

Other objects of the invention reside in details of construction and arrangement of parts and for purposes of illustration but not of limitation, an embodiment of the invention is shown on the accompanying drawing in which,

Figure l is a side elevation of a vehicle door latch;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a sectional View on the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a vehicle door latch having a case plate Ill connected to the door in any suitable manner and formed with an outwardly extending flange II at one end. The flange II is formed with an opening I2 through which the nose l3 of the latch bolt extends. The nose I3 is secured to the bolt plate I4 by rivets I5 and the bolt plate is formed with a longitudinally elongate slot I6 to receive a stud I'I having a head I8 for guiding the sliding movement of the latch bolt to and from latching position.

The latch bolt is retracted by a roll back I9 having oppositely extending arms 20 and 2!, the arm 29 engaging an ear 22 struck from the bolt plate I4 and extending inwardly therefrom. The arm 2| normally engages an ear 23 struck from the case plate Ill and limits the clockwise or non-bolt retracting movement of the roll back I 9. An ear 24 struck from the case plate It limits the counterclockwise movement of the roll back I9 and is disposed in the path of movement 40 of the arm 2|. The roll back is provided with a hub 25 which is disposed in an elongate slot 26 formed in the bolt plate I4 to enable sliding movement of the bolt plate independent of the roll back. The hub 25 is formed with a squared 45 opening 21 to receive the squared shaft of an operating handle (not shown) and as will be readily understood by those skilled in this art.

Forming a part of the roll back I9 and extending rearwardly therefrom at approximately right angles to the arms and 2| is an arm 28 against which bears one end of a spiral spring 29. The opposite end of the spring 29 is disposed between a pair of outwardly projecting ears 3U struck from the case plate II]. The spring 29 serves to normally hold the roll back arm 2| against the ear or stop 23 on the case plate so that the handle for operating the latch is always disposed in a predetermined position.

It will be understood that the roll back is disposed between the bolt plate I4 and case plate I9 and the spiral spring 29 is arranged in close juxtaposition to the case plate Ill. The bolt plate I4 is urged to latching position by a spiral spring 3| which is superposed upon the spiral spring 29 and also has its inner end arranged between the ears 30. The free end of the spring 3| bears against an ear 32 which is struck from the bolt plate I4 and extends toward the case plate II]. It is apparent that the spiral spring 3| urges the bolt nose I3 to its projected position, the movement being limited by the outer end of the slot I6 engaging the stud I1.

As best shown in Figure 2, the rear or inner end of the bolt plate I4 is embossed outwardly away from the case plate II] to accommodate the spiral springs 29 and 3| which are disposed one upon the other. The rear end portion of the bolt plate is formed with a longitudinally elongate slot 33 into which project the outer ends of the upwardly extending ears 3|]. The width of the slot 33 is so chosen as to accommodate the ears 30 and insures against the ears spreading apart or away from each other due to the force exerted against them by the spira1 springs.

By making the slot elongate, it is obvious that the bolt plate I4 can. freely move to and from latching position.

The above described latch bolt is useful particularly on the deck lids of automobiles, as for example on the rear end of the body and in cases where it is desirable that the operating handle upon being released is always returned to the same position. The arrangement of the springs one upon the other is of importance in that it conserves space thus simplifying and reducing the cost of the latch.

It is to be understood that numerous changes in details of construction, arrangement and operation may be efiected Without departing from the spirit of the invention especially as defined in the appended claim.

What I claim is:

A vehicle door latch comprising a case plate, a latch bolt on said case plate, a roll back for retracting said bolt, an arm forming a part of said roll back and movable therewith, a pair of ears struck from said case plate, said bolt having a slot into which the outer ends of said ears project, a spiral spring having its inner end disposed between said ears and its outer end bearing against said arm, and another spiral spring arranged upon said first spring and having its inner end disposed between said ears and its outer end engaging the bolt.

HOLDEN W. RIGHTMYER. 

